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The Doctor’s Companion Ep. 185 – Canonized

Recently, the Eighth Doctor’s adventures with Lucie Miller officially became canon so Scott and guest host Paul Montgomery go down the rabbit hole with the first series from Big Finish Audio. A girl named Lucie appears on the TARDIS with no memory of how she got there or why. But with the Doctor unable to take her home due to a time lock put in place by the Time Lords, Lucie and the Doctor travel through time and space, all while forging an unlikely friendship. Who is the Headhunter and what does she want with Lucie? Could the Daleks have really changed into a benevolent race? How are the Cybermen with data entry and paperwork? Find out all of this and so much more in the latest episode of The Doctor’s Companion! And remember, BEWARE OF SPOILERS!!

4 thoughts on “The Doctor’s Companion Ep. 185 – Canonized”

I really appreciate this episode. I am a Doctor Who fanatic, but I’ve never explored the audios in depth. A question regarding the 8th Doctor audios: The 8th Doctor has a line in the Big Finish monthly releases AND ALSO individual seasons [#1- #4, Dark Eyes] . Where would you recommend a neophyte start?: With the monthly story arc(s) or the seasonal story arc(s)? I poked around and it looks like the monthly stories and the seasonal stories have their own/different companions: Former — Charley, C’rizz, Mary Shelley (!); Latter — Lucie, Tamsin, Molly O’Sullivan. Does one line take place before or after the other?

So glad you enjoyed this one. I’m really excited to start talking about the Big Finish audios from not only 8, but eventually 6 and 7 as well.

As far as your question…

TECHNICALLY, the Eighth Doctor main range w/ Charley Pollard comes first, however, there’s a reason we’re not covering them first. While there are some really good ones mixed in, they’re by and large VERY hit and miss.

The “adventures” range w/ Lucie Miller takes place after Charley, but rarely makes more than a passing reference to 8’s adventures with her. I believe the point of the Lucie Miller era was to be a clean slate of sorts, very easy for new listeners (especially those who may be more familiar with Doctor Who post-2005). These episodes are also of a much higher quality across the board. That’s why we decided to begin with the “adventures” era rather than with what came first.

After Lucie’s four series, you can then go on to listen to the “Dark Eyes” series w/ Molly O’Sullivan. After that, if you want to go back to the Charlie era, you can, but I’d also recommend seeking out a cheat sheet of the best stories (I can help you out with that if need be).

The Mary Shelley trilogy can be listened to at any time because it is completely separate from the rest of the 8th Doctor line. In fact, I think it might even take place prior to Charley in continuity.

In regards to TDC, I plan on covering a lot of Big Finish coming up. The four series of 8th Doctor Adventures w/ Lucie Miller will be first. Then a series of 6th & 7th Doctor stories that make up the arc “A Death in the Family”. After that will be the four series of 8th Doctor “Dark Eyes” w/ Molly (which will hopefully be finished by then). Then I’ll probably popcorn through the 8th Doctor w/ Charley adventures, as well as some of my favorite remaining stories from the other Big Finish Doctors. So if you nothing else, you could always just follow along with the show and you’d be more than fine.

Sounds like the perfect time to take the plunge. I now have the 1st season of the 8th Doctor, and I’ll give them a listen [and then give the podcast a re-listen]. If ya’ll are going to work your way through seasons 2-4, and then the Dark Eyes, then I can follow along. There is just such an insane amount of Big Finish stuff, it really is hard to know where to start, but now I’ve got my in. For some reason I always assumed that the McGann stuff would be 2nd rate. But to hear you guys talk so glowingly about his work makes me pretty psyched to get to know his audio oeuvre.